Why I Invited Livingstone to Speak at the Pastors Conference

Greg Livingstone is one of my heroes. He founded Frontiers, a mission to Muslims. He is not the president anymore, but he grew that mission into hundreds of people going to the hardest places of the world.

He has himself endured a lot, dealing with health issues in his family and serving in very risky places. Through the mission, he has had to deal with people getting thrown in jail and getting killed. And he has had to handle parents who are upset because their child is going to some crazy place like Iraq or Saudi Arabia because of him.

The reason I invited him this year—though I would have invite him any year—is that he fathered a mission. He fathered a movement. He created Frontiers and shepherded it for 20 years or so.

I told him that I want missions to be included in our conference theme of fathering, and one way to do that would be to talk about what it is like to father a movement.

John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books.